While consumers may access media items, such as movies and television shows, by receiving over the air signals or by subscribing to a cable or satellite television provider, increasingly consumers are accessing content over Internet-based systems. Some Internet-based systems allow users to download or stream content over the Internet to a variety of client devices. For example, an Internet-based media system may provide content to users via a personal computer, a set-top box, or a personal mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet computer. In particular, streaming media systems enable users to access media content in a streaming video format, such that the users may begin consuming (e.g., watching and/or listening to) content before the entirety of the content is delivered to a given user's client device. Such a system allows users to access content while avoiding a potentially lengthy download process before beginning to consume their selected content.
When streaming a media item, the user does not have to download the entire media item before being able to view the media item. Instead, the user can start consuming the media item almost immediately as soon as the data representing the media is delivered to the user's device. As the data representing the media item is delivered to the user's device, it is temporarily placed in a buffer. The buffer allows for a smoother viewing experience because if the network connection between the user's device and the server from which data is being streamed is temporarily disrupted or slowed, consumption of the media item may continue using data in the buffer. Ideally, the rate at which data is delivered to the buffer is greater than the rate at which data is read out of the buffer for display on the client device. However, in some cases, the data is read out of the buffer faster than it is delivered to the buffer. In the event that the buffer utilization (i.e., the amount of data currently within the buffer) falls to zero, then the media stream is typically paused until sufficient data can be delivered to the buffer. This can lower the quality of experience for a viewer, since this abrupt stopping of playback is perceived by the viewer as a frozen screen—sometimes overlaid with an hour-glass or spinning-wheel icon—and a corresponding absence of audio, i.e. silence. The user will generally have no awareness of the amount of data in the buffer, and thus the user perceives the stopping of playback as a randomly-timed event. When sufficient data is again received into the buffer, playback of the media item may abruptly resume. The resulting discontinuous playback of the media item is not enjoyable for the user.
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